Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times
by Morris Kline · first published 1972
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Traces the development of mathematics from its beginnings in Babylonia and ancient Egypt to the work of Riemann and Godel in modern times.
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but it's always interested me. There's Morris Kline's Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times which is 3 glorious fat volumes of just this stuff.
on “How did anyone do math in Roman numerals? (2017)” ↗…Fourth Revised Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics) by Dirk J. Struik Introduction to the Foundations of Mathematics: Second Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics) Second Edition by Raymond L. Wilder Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times by Morris Kline (3 volume set) The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time by Jason Socrates Bardi There is also a "thing" in mathematics that is sometimes…
on “Galois Theory” ↗…Stick_, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, about what makes some ideas memorable and others forgettable. Urban legends, for example, propagate quickly on a vast scale despite having no marketing budget. _Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times_, by Morris Kline. Did you know that Gauss proved, in a section of his doctoral thesis, that partial-fraction decomposition can always yield real coefficients?
on “Ask YC: What is/are your favorite book(s)?” ↗…would learning more about how math developed over time, and how people solved important problems in the past, help me in trying to solve some other problem today? Years ago I bought the 3-volume set "Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times", but never had the time to get past the first few chapters. I'd be interested in any recommendations for math history tomes like that.
on “Galois Theory” ↗